Role of HSBC Bank in Argentina's Financial Crisis

HSBC is one of the world's largest bank. What are HSBC's options in Argentina's crisis and what do you think they should do? Sources should be cited.

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Hi,

This is an interesting and somewhat controversial issue. Some argue that HSBC has redeemed itself, while others argue that it was a 10 year fiasco of mismanaging and perhaps illegal activities (e.g., money laundering, etc.) that calls into question the integrity and ethics of the corporate culture.

Let's take a closer look at some of the business literature on this debate.

RESPONSE:

1. What are HSBC's options in Argentina's crisis and what do you think they should do?

According to this 2002 intelligence review, Argentine police had begun a series of high-profile raids of several foreign banks in Buenos Aires, pursuant to two federal court investigations into large-scale, illegal capital flight, possibly in the range of $30 billion. The entities that were 'unexpectedly" raided (included HSBC), represent the dominant international financial interests, which moved into Argentina during the 1990s to loot it, through usurious practices, involvement in shady privatizations, capital flight, and money laundering (http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2002/2904arg_money_ldr.html).

According to this review (2002), some 90% of "Argentine" banking is now foreign-owned. As the disintegration of the global monetary system accelerated, the looting became more frantic. Among those raided were the HongKong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Plc. (HSBC); Banco Francés, whose largest stockholder is Spain's Banco Bilbao-Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA); Citibank; Bank of Boston; Banco Río, majority owned by Spain's Santander Banco Central Hispano (SBCH); and FleetBoston Financial. The offices of American Airlines were also raided, as was the Argentine Central Bank (http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2002/2904arg_money_ldr.html.)

The 2002 Intelligence review reported that the work done by Carrió and Cafiero exposed the money laundering and capital flight carried out by dirty international financial networks (HSBC, Citibank, and others) to destroy Argentina is getting close (2002 report) ...

Solution Summary

This solution debates the role of the HSBC Bank in Argentina's financial crisis and also looks at HSBC's potential options in Argentina's crisis and what they should do. It also provides an overview of the financial crisis in Argentina.